“He Ruined Everything”

Vladimir Putin (70) had imagined it differently: a year after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army can hardly report any successes at the front and Volodymyr Zelensky (45) is still president of Ukraine.

Now a former senior FSB man is speaking out – and clearly criticizing the Kremlin boss. He even names a possible successor for the autocrat.

“He understands that he is in trouble,” says Yevgeny Savostyanov (70) about the Russian president to the Russian online magazine “Republic”. ‘He ruined everything. An incredible story,” the former Secret Service general raged.

No “quick victory” in Ukraine

Savostyanov says Putin made three crucial mistakes in the war in Ukraine. “The first mistake is to campaign against the West. The second is to believe that in Ukraine they were waiting for us with flowers and hugs. The third is that, it turns out, he didn’t know how his own army worked.” The army had been built up for years without being prepared for a fight with the West.

The Russian president underestimated the West’s determination to oppose him and failed to recognize the incompetence of his army, the former head of the Moscow branch of the FSB said. Putin had expected the West to swallow his hoped-for “quick victory” in Ukraine, but he was wrong. Zavostyanov added that Putin’s problems were self-inflicted by the war.

He assumes that Putin’s days as president are numbered. His successor is likely to come from the Kremlin orbit. However, the former FSB general rules out a major domestic political revolution. He predicts an attempt to bring to power a figure who will be able to “control the situation.”

Less dangerous than Putin

Savostyanov names Agriculture Minister Dmitri Patrushev (45), the son of Putin’s security adviser Nikolai Patrushev (71), as the main contender to succeed Putin. The 71-year-old is considered one of the architects of the invasion of Ukraine and is Putin’s security adviser.

Dmitri Patrushev is seen as a “suitable personality” who “gets support” to later control Russia. He is less dangerous than Putin “in the eyes of the West” because he plays no significant role in the war in Ukraine. Significantly, Putin praised his minister in his State of the Union address this week. (nad)

Source: Blick